Adept
by And a Mask
Summary: When an unknown power within is stirred, the events of an epic quest unfold quickly for a group of unlikely heros rated T to be safe...poor summary, please read! reviews welcomed
1. Chapter 1: When Destiny knocks

"No, no son," Lucas pointed out, "you have to let it flow through you." He gave a sigh. "Here, watch closely." With a flick of a wrist, a warm, orange globe of flame appeared above his palm, filling the small work shop with a soft radiance.

12 year old Alex's brown eyes followed his father's every move in awe. Each pass of the luminous orb grew more and more intricate, until Lucas elongated the sphere using both hands into a long, winding serpent. Alex laughed in delight as his father took the snake and wound it into intricate knots and shapes. With another flick of the wrist, the snake vanished in a shimmer of sparks. Eager to imitate his father's feat, Alex outstretched his hand and faced his palm upward, as he had seen his father do.

Focusing intensely on the space above his hand, Alex concentrated on what he wanted to occur. With a brief shimmer of heat and a minor distortion, a small flame flickered to life. With a cry of delight, Alex quickly turned to show his dad, only to be disappointed that his lack of focus had extinguished the tiny fire he had created.

Lucas shook his head, with a small smile on its face. "Well, it was a good job for today. Come on; let's go get a bite to eat." He clasped his hand on his son's shoulder as the two headed out of the shop. Lucas gazed up into the sky as the sun slowly sank over the distant horizon.

* * * * * *

11 year old Emily finished up the sketch she had been working on. She tucked her brown hair behind her ear as she stared at the brown eyed, spiky haired boy in the scene upon her lap. While he wasn't exactly a large boy, he had a sort of a build to him that wasn't lanky, but not overweight.

"Emily, where have you been?" Emily's mother, Samantha, walked out onto the back porch where Emily sat. "You know very well we were about to eat." She perched on the side of the little pond off the back steps.

Emily moved from her spot towards her mother. "I'm sorry, mom," she apologized, "but I just had to draw this picture and get it out of my head." She handed her mother the sketchpad she had been filling with drawings of all manners. "I keep having this same dream, and every time he comes in at the very end." Her brown eyes were full of a concern. "He is always running from the bigger kids," she pointed to the drawing. "They are throwing these rocks at him, and then...ugh…" she couldn't recall the next part.

Samantha, seeing how shaken her daughter was, embraced Emily as warmly as possible. "There, now. It's okay. It was only a dream." She ran her hand through Emily's silky hair. "Now run along. Help your sisters finish the chores before we eat." She let go of her daughter and looked down at the creation of her offspring. She gazed into the deep eyes of the artwork for a long time.

A cry from her infant son broke Samantha's focus on the picture. Knowing it was time to attend to her family, she set the sketchpad in the chair Emily loved so much. As she was leaving, she turned to look back at the picture one last time: the picture of the boy with a handful of fire.

* * * * * *

Seth shook his snow white hair out as he climbed out of his makeshift alley shelter. His small frame and odd features separated him from the crowd of people that bustled in front of him, on their ways to work in the capital city of Alburodas. After being abandoned as a baby, he had grown up on the streets for the past 13 years, so he had long since shrugged off the fact he was different. Being alone for long stretches of time left him to explore and learn to survive. It had also caused him to uncover what it really was that separated him from the others.

With a small smile to himself, he pulled his bandana over his head. Producing a pair of sunglasses from a pocket, he hid his pale gray eyes behind the dark, cool lenses. He started his way out of the backwoods alley, turning towards the city limits. His clenched fists slowly opened as he continued walking, laughing at the fact that his presence would not be missed. With a last glance towards the streets, he turned and walked out of the town. The wind kicked up dust all about him, though never blowing any directly at the small traveler. And with that, Seth disappeared behind a wall of swirling sand and dust.

* * * Four Years Later * * *

Alex walked alone down the crowded noon streets of his small town, on his way back towards home. He shielded his eyes from the brilliant sun, and began to take a look around the bustling flow of people. About the same time, a group of boys roughly the same age as Alex started towards him. Seeing that the group was not exactly a welcoming committee, Alex turned quickly and started off down a narrow side street. Mimicking his actions, the group followed down the alleyway, largest of the foes towards the front.

"Hey, runt!" the oafish brute called out. "Where you in such a rush to get to, huh?" he chuckled as he picked up a stone off the ground. With a little effort, he chucked the tiny projectile, bouncing it off Alex's shoulder. "Aw, what's the matter? Did that hurt?" the mocking tone of the jerk rang off the walls. "Hey guys, lets teach this little twerp the real meaning of pain!" Soon the entire mob was grabbing stones and throwing them at Alex's retreating figure.

With a dead sprint, Alex tore out of the alley at a breakneck pace into the main square of the town. The small mob followed, chucking ever larger stones as the laughed. More and more of the projectiles found their mark, and Alex winced at each glancing impact, slowing him to a stumbling stagger. One of the large rocks found its spot square in the middle of Alex's back. Crying out in pain, Alex fell to his knees as his pursuers closed to 10 foot distance from their victim.

Shakily getting to his feet, Alex turned to face the assailants that had so tenaciously pursued him. By the size of the stones that had been cast against him, Alex judged the situation to be getting dangerous. "If just one hits me in the head, it's all over" he thought to himself. "Please guys," he pleaded, "I don't want any trouble." But his plea was to go unanswered. The goliath of a leader had picked up a brick roughly the size of Alex's head and was pushing all his weight behind it. Alex inhaled sharply as the crippling blow was sent flying true towards its target. His instincts raised his arm to block his face in a futile attempt to deflect the coming death.

But the blow that would have ended him never came. Alex lowered his arm to look upon his now cowering attackers. The gathered crowd was in awe at the events that Alex had no knowledge of. As he stepped forward, his foot ran through a pile of ash.

His eyes moved instantly towards his right hand, now clenched in a fist. Lifting it out before him, he opened his palm and focused intently on the space above his hand. With little more than a shimmer of heat, a globe crimson flames leaped into being. Although it audibly seared and hissed for all to hear, it neither burned nor scorched Alex. Instead, it seemed to radiate warmth for him and him alone to behold.

Having recovered from the failure of his attack, the gargantuan charged forward at a distracted Alex. Arms outstretched to tackle his mark, the bully was stunned to find himself stopped short of his target by some distance. His chest felt tight, so the oaf instinctively looked down. Holding him to his spot was a snow white haired boy, staring with a bloodlust into the giants eyes.


	2. Chapter 2: What Was That?

Seth had made it to the outskirts of town around mid-morning after traveling most of the night. He headed into town, seeking out a few supplies and some food to calm his grumbling stomach. Seth came across a vendor who handed who a large piece of venison for just a few small coins, to which Seth was more than willing to trade. Moving into the shade of a side alley, Seth took a bite out of the smoked meat, savoring the flavor of the first food he'd had in days. Lost in a train of thought, he was immediately called back to reality by the sound of shouting from a near by crowd. Curious, Seth moved closer, pushing through the pedestrians to get a better view of the situation.

From the side Seth stood on, it appeared that a smaller boy was being assaulted by a group of larger older boys, whose leader held the appearance of a small ogre with wits to match the rocks he was throwing. Suddenly, the great lummox lifted a sizeable chunk of mortar off the ground, taking careful aim at his smaller target. "That buffoon will kill the poor kid if that piece makes contact!" Seth hissed under his breath. Even with his unnatural speed, he was still too far out from preventing the missile's flight. "Damn it," he swore, "that poor kid's a goner." Seth prepared for what he expected to be a bloody mess…

But the expected bone-crunching squish never came. Just before the impact, a flame of pure white heat leaped from small boy's protective hand, turning the projectile into little more than a pile of ash on the ground. A wave of shocked gasps and awes rushed through the crowd, but Seth was cursing under his breath. "Damn it, who would have expected to find an Adept in this backwater town?" Without a second thought, he began moving through the crowd towards the boy, only to pause when an inhuman roar bellowed forth from the large boy's mouth. The muscular ogre rushed forwards to the unsuspecting boy, who stood motionless, transfixed by a globe of fire in the palm of his hand.

"Move it, kid!" Seth yelled, only to be drowned out by the ogre's growl. Knowing time was short, Seth tore through the crowd, leaping right in front of the charging behemoth. Shifting every bit of his mass to a low center, he halted the bully by thrusting his palms into the assailant's chest. Retracting his right hand, Seth summoned forth a ball of wind that howled with the force of a small tornado. Twisting the ball swiftly upwards, he thrust his hand into the unsuspecting gut of the stunned opponent.

With a little effort, Seth sent the twit flying backwards towards the group of smaller peons. With a thunderous crash, the giant collided with a crate of tomatoes, shattering the wooden exterior and effectively pulping the contents and coating the attackers in juices. Sensing the defeat of there leader by the strange, white-haired boy, the rest of the would-be bullies fled the scene, pausing only to collect their figurehead from his less than graceful throne.

The crowd turned from quiet whispers and applause to a full on triumphant bellow for the unlikely victors. Seth quickly turned to see the other boy looking at him, grinning wider than anyone Seth had ever seen before.

* * * * * *

Emily found herself walking the streets of the open air market in the middle of the town, running errands for her mother like any other day. The aromas of herbs, flowers, spices, and exotic specimens swirled about her, helping Emily to lose herself among the sea of faces and people. Always ready to see the next new thing, Emily strolled over to a caravan of traders who arrived late last night, and were in the process of setting up shop. As she looked over one of the trader's assortment of strange and wondrous amulets and talismans, Emily heard a commotion from the crowd in the square behind her.

Thanking the man quickly for his time, Emily turned towards the mob that had assembled in the open air of the streets. The entirety of the attention seemed to be focused on some commotion at the center of the crowd, piquing Emily's curiosity in the ruckus. "So very strange," she whispered to herself, "this all seems so vaguely familiar." Careful not to disturb anyone, Emily quickly worked her way towards the center, only to find herself taken aback by the scene before her.

In the middle of the congregation was a group of rough looking boys throwing stones and other projectiles at a small, lean-built boy. Emily clasped her hand over her mouth as a nauseating wave of déjà vu swept over her. So many times in her earlier childhood had she drawn the scene playing out before her that Emily couldn't help but watching in complete horror about the events about to unfold. Helpless, she watched as a mountain of an adolescent picked up what looked like a cinder block out of nearby debris pile. As the smaller boy stared down his attackers, the large boy drew back the deadly projectile, aiming to kill. "Not him! Anyone but him!" a tiny voice in the back of Emily's mind shouted. For all of an instant, Emily completely forgot the current situation and pondered why such a thought was brought to the front of her thoughts.

A sharp gasp of the surrounding crowd was enough to snap Emily back, centering her attention on the deadly missile's flight. Somehow, while Emily had dazed off, the projectile had been completely annihilated before ever reaching the boy. A flutter of joy filled Emily seeing the smaller boy unharmed, but that ecstatic feeling was cut to ribbons of pure terror as the gargantuan let out a howl to chill one's blood. Emily stood planted in place, watching in horror as the large boy rushed forward to crush his smaller, dazed victim. She heard herself scream in fright, tried to focus on standing as the world swirled around her for an instant, and maybe even blacked out for a second.

But the slaughter of the small boy had been halted by the arrival of a new presence. Emily's eyes now beheld the sight of another small boy, holding the great mass of the bully firmly in place. Filled with a glimmer of hope, she watched as the white-haired boy draw his hand back, holding what looked like a ball of swirling winds. The force of the compressed air let out a high pitched whine as the new savior thrust his hand into the attacker's stomach. The assailant lifted slightly off the ground, then sailed through the air into a nearby crate. The resulting crash sent debris every direction, even splattering some of the crowd members who were nearer to that side. As the would-be gang turned tails and ran, Emily couldn't help but cheer and smile for the triumphant pair. "That was too close," the small voice in Emily's head whispered before disappearing again into silence. But Emily held her attention to the brown-haired boy whom had been the target of the bully.

He was holding a globe of the bright orange flames in his hand.

* * * * * *


End file.
